Improving U.S.-India HA/DR Coordination in the Indian Ocean Nilanthi Samaranayake • Catherine Lea • Dmitry Gorenburg Cleared for public release DRM-2013-U-004941-Final2 July 2014 Strategic Studies is a division of CNA. This directorate conducts analyses of security policy, regional analyses, studies of political-military issues, and strategy and force assessments. CNA Strategic Studies is part of the global community of strategic studies institutes and in fact collaborates with many of them. On-the-ground experience is a hallmark of our regional work. Our specialists combine in-country experience, lan- guage skills, and the use of local primary-source data to produce empirically based work. All of our analysts have advanced degrees, and virtually all have lived and worked abroad. Similarly, our strategists and military/naval operations experts either have active duty experience or have served as field analysts with operating Navy and Marine Corps commands. 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Cover photo credits: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Sidr_14_nov_2007_0445Z.jpg; http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Navy_080905-N-7843A- 274_Rear_Adm._Richard_Landolt,_commander_of_Task_Force_76,_tours_the_INS_Jalashwa,_formerly_the_USS_Trenton ,_with_Indian_Navy_Rear_Adm.jpg; http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Navy_050116-N-3823K-133_An_SH- 60B_Seahawk_helicopter_lands_to_drop_off_relief_supplies_to_Tsunami_victims_on_the_island_of_Sumatra,_Indonesia. jpg; http://www.dhakatribune.com/sci-amp-tech/2013/aug/16/intel-report-reveals-us-india-cold-war-cooperation Approved for distribution: July 2014 Ken E. Gause, Director International Affairs Group CNA Strategic Studies This document contains the best opinion of the authors at the time of issue. Cleared for public release. Distribution unlimited. Available at www.cna.org. Copyright © 2014 CNA This work was created in the performance of Federal Government Contract Number N00014-11-D-0323. 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Used to identify Classification level Contents Summary ............................................................................................ 1 Findings ............................................................................................. 2 Introduction ....................................................................................... 5 Analytical approach .......................................................................... 8 Organization of this report ............................................................ 11 U.S. and Indian disaster relief experiences in the Indian Ocean ...... 13 2004 Tsunami ................................................................................. 13 2007 Cyclone Sidr ........................................................................... 18 2008 Cyclone Nargis ....................................................................... 23 India’s evolving disaster relief architecture and capabilities ............. 29 New disaster relief agencies and mandates .................................. 29 The role of Indian armed forces in disaster response ................ 36 The role of disaster relief in naval exercises with other countries ...................................................................................... 45 U.S.-Indian naval coordination since the 2004 tsunami .................... 51 Improvements in coordination ..................................................... 51 Limits on cooperation.................................................................... 56 Conclusions and recommendations .................................................. 59 Conclusions ..................................................................................... 59 Recommendations ......................................................................... 63 Appendix: Interview respondents’ organizations .............................. 71 United States ................................................................................... 71 India................................................................................................. 71 Other Indian Ocean countries ...................................................... 71 Glossary ........................................................................................... 73 List of figures ................................................................................... 75 List of tables ..................................................................................... 77 i ii Summary The CNA Corporation conducted this study to determine how the United States can best deepen coordination with India on humanitar- ian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) in the Indian Ocean. This study builds on the findings of a 2012 CNA Corporation study, U.S.- India Security Burden-Sharing?, which identified HA/DR as a functional area in which the United States could advance naval relations with India.1 This is due to the frequency with which natural disasters strike the region, especially the Bay of Bengal, and, for India, the relative domestic political palatability of working with the United States in the aftermath of natural disasters. The United States is increasingly looking to India to contribute to se- curity in the Indian Ocean. Deepening U.S.-Indian economic con- nections, shared democratic identities, declining U.S. defense budgets, and the rise of China have drawn the United States closer to India as a security partner in the region. To advance bilateral naval ties through coordination on HA/DR, this study determines how the United States can best draw on: India’s new disaster response architecture and growing naval capabilities and experiences; lessons learned from case studies of U.S. and Indian relief provision after previous natural disasters in the Indian Ocean; and research into likely outcomes of future natural disaster sce- narios. 1 Nilanthi Samaranayake, Satu Limaye, Dmitry Gorenburg, Catherine Lea, and Thomas A. Bowditch, U.S.-India Security Burden-Sharing? The Potential for Coordinated Capacity-Building in the Indian Ocean, CNA Corporation, Apr. 2013, http://www.cna.org/research/2013/us-india-security-burden- sharing. 1 Findings India has made substantial improvements in HA/DR capabilities and architecture in the last decade Since the 2004 tsunami, the Indian government has allocated addi- tional resources to improving India’s disaster management capabili- ties. New organizations and entities include the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), the National Institute for Disaster Management (NIDM), and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). The Indian Navy has increased its capabilities by acquiring new multi-functional tankers, amphibious ships, and frigates, in addi- tion to holding multinational HA/DR naval exercises. After the 2004 tsunami, all deployed Indian Navy ships began carrying disaster relief “bricks” containing food, medicine, clothing, water purification equipment, and kitchen supplies. To match this growth in capabilities, there is a greater recognition among Indian officials and experts of the benefits of disaster relief diplomacy for India as a rising power in the Indo-Pacific.2 A growing body of literature on the subject can be found among Indian strate- gists and officers, who write about the soft-power benefits of India providing relief to countries in the region and even to Japan after the 2011 tsunami. CDR Sarabjeet Singh Parmar of the Institute for De- fence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) writes that these efforts portray India as a “responsible nation.”3 The Indian Ministry of Defence has also publicized the military’s HA/DR efforts after the 2004 tsunami, Cyclone Sidr, and Cyclone Nargis, among other operations, in its an- 4 nual reports. 2 D. Suba Chandran et al., “India’s Disaster Relief Diplomacy,” Indian Foreign Affairs Journal 4, no. 2 (Apr.–Jun. 2009), 63–80. 3 CDR Sarabjeet Singh Parmar, “Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) in India’s National Strategy,” in Anti-Piracy and Humanitarian Operations – International Order at Sea: Workshop 1, Jo Inge Bekkevold and Robert S. Ross, eds. (Oslo: Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, 2011), 36, http://idsa.in/system/files/book_OrderSea.pdf. 4 Indian Ministry of Defence, Annual Reports, 2004-2009, http://mod.nic.in/reports/welcome.html. 2 Both countries’ navies have comparative advantages in disaster relief Despite additions to the Indian Navy’s capacity over the past decade, the U.S. Navy will continue to have